March 20, 2015
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TECH STARTERS: Spingola/CF, Innis/LF, Johnson/RF, Murray/DH, Gonzalez/3B, Smith/1B , Bailey/2B, Justus/SS, Pasbt/C, King/SP.
UNC STARTERS: Lassiter/LF, Ramirez/RF, Gahagan/1B, Bolt/CF, Wamouth/SS, Raburn/3B, Pate/DH, Sutherland/2B, Dunbar/C, Gallen/SP.
THE BASICS:
• Kel Johnson’s two-run home run tied the game in the eighth inning, but Korey Dunbar’s two-run homer in ninth gave No. 18 North Carolina the lead again as the Tar Heels edged No. 21 Georgia Tech, 5-3, Friday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
• Six of the last seven games between Tech and UNC have been one- or two-run decisions.
• The loss dropped the Yellow Jackets to 15-6 overall and 4-3 in the ACC, while the Tar Heels improved to 13-8, 4-3.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
• Carolina struck for three runs off Tech starter Jonathan King in the third inning and maintained that 3-0 lead until the Jackets scratched in the fifth.
• An RBI single from Connor Justus followed a double from Wade Bailey as Tech pulled within 3-1 in the fifth.
• Daniel Spingola singled to get the Jackets’ eighth inning started and two batters later, Johnson launched his seventh homer of the year to right and tied the game at 3-3 off UNC reliever Trent Thornton.
• UNC had an answer in the ninth as Adam Pate got the inning started with a single and following a sacrifice bunt, Dunbar’s first homer of the year was a two-run blast to center that stood as the game winner.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Of Johnson’s seven home runs this season, five have either tied the game or given Tech a lead, including tonight’s game-tying two-run opposite-field homer in the eighth.
• Spingola extended his hitting streak to nine games with a ninth-inning single and Keenan Innis’ hitting streak reached five games.
• Johnson and Justus each had two-hit efforts for the Jackets. Eight of Johnson’s last 10 games have been multi-hit efforts.
• King gave the Jackets seven innings, allowing three runs and did not factor in the decision.
• Tanner Shelton allowed the lead-off single in the ninth and would absorb the loss (1-1).
• Trevor Kelley tossed closed out the Jackets in order in the ninth to nail down his second save and give Thornton the win (1-1).
• Zac Gallen fanned seven over seven innings for Carolina.
• Dunbar was 2-for-4 with two runs, while Pate and Landon Lassiter each had two-hit efforts.
QUOTEABLE:
“Jonathan King really gave us a chance tonight and he had just that one tough inning. To (UNC’s) credit, they got a couple two-out hits to score some runs. But we hung around and Kel Johnson hit a big home run to tie the game. Certainly disappointed to drop this one, but we’ve been here before and we need to bounce back and have a great Saturday.”
— Head Coach Danny Hall
UP NEXT:
Due to forecasted rain on Sunday, the series concludes Saturday as the teams will play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
